Akira Class
History The Akira class was initially conceived during rising hostilities with the Cardassian Union, the project at first was just a test in starship design, however following Starfleet’s disastrous losses to the Borg in the Battle of Wolf 359 Starfleet began a major program of starship development and building to meet any future Borg threat. The USS Akira was launched in 2368 and the Akira class went on become a major player in the fleet. The class performed admirably against the Borg on their return and was involved in numerous battles in the Dominion War. (ST reference: Starship Spotter) Design Features An unconventional Starfleet design, the Akira has several notable features. Externally the most obvious is the catamaran engineering hull that is connected to the top of the saucer section. Between the catamaran hull at the rear of the vessel is a weapons' pod containing several torpedo launchers. (Star Trek: First Contact) Early built Akira's had all their launchers facing forward except for the "broadside" launchers and had no direct aft torpedo coverage. Later models would have a redesigned weapons' pod that had four rear facing launchers. (Star Trek: Swiftfire: "Vengeance") Because the ship's designers tried to fit so many tactical systems into the saucer section, the earliest ships of the class suffered from highly-stressed spaceframes, and almost all of them suffered structural defects. Although these were eventually rectified, a number of the early Akira ships were retired from front-line service at the end of the Dominion War because of this reason, and used primarily for training and tactical war games. (Starship Independence: "Summon the Heroes") Also, in the early designs, the ship's magazine was situated centrally, heavily armoured and located deep inside the saucer, with an elaborate ammunition loading system that fed clusters of launchers around the outer hull of the ship. This design attempted to maximize the valuable center space of the hull, while improving ship safety from a catastrophic loss of the ship, in the event of a fire or magazine explosion. (Starship Independence) Each launch cluster was armoured heavily on the inside and thinly on the outside, in a way that would deflect an explosion outwards if one of the launchers was damaged in battle. (Starship Independence) The ship is heavily armed with six phaser arrays and eight torpedo launchers. By mid-2373, new vessels of this class were been equipped with quantum torpedoes. (Star Trek: Swiftfire: "Vengeance") The Akira is powered by two warp cores, one located in each spar. (Star Trek: Swiftfire) Another unusual feature of the through-deck shuttlebay located in the saucer section. The large bay has access points at the bow of the ship as well as at the rear of the saucer, located between the engineering hulls. This large bay allows the Akira to carry dozens of smaller craft from shuttlepods to attack fighters. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 3; Star Trek: Swiftfire) The Akira is capable of performing a saucer separation and can also eject its warp cores. (Star Trek: Swiftfire: "Task Force 59", "Q, Time and Again") Ships Using This Class in Star Trek: Second Fleet Online There are currently no ships in ST:SFO using this class. References Specifications from Ships of the Star Fleet, Volume I General Information from Star Trek Expanded Universe Pictures from Paramount and CBS through Memory Alpha Category:Ship Classes